Immortality's Curse
by map02121
Summary: 1,000 years ago, a notoriously strong group of people known as the Seven Deadly Sins sacrificed their lives in order to defeat the Demon King and end the Holy War. However, the Fox's Sin of Greed was able to walk away from the battle due to his immortality, and he still roams the Earth to this day. (a.k.a. A story where everybody but Ban dies and is reincarnated after 1,000 years)
1. Prologue

**A/N: So I originally started posting this fic on AO3, but I decided I'd post it here as well. Happy reading :)**

**(Spoiler alert for the manga)**

Pain. That was all he could feel. It was nowhere specific, just everywhere, but where was everywhere? He couldn't feel his body. Did he even have one?

His head began to throb. Okay, he has a head. Good start. He still couldn't feel the rest of his body, but he could hear something. What was that? Sizzling? Steaming? The pain creeped down to his chest, then his torso. He felt a jolt of pain near his shoulder, followed by a loud snapping and popping. What the hell was happening to him?

Once the throbbing in his head had diminished to a dull ache, he realized what his body was doing.

It was regenerating.

That's right. He has the Fountain of Youth coursing through his veins, so he can't die. But if he's regenerating like this, then that means his body was completely destroyed. The last time he remembers feeling like this was when he was in Purgatory, healing and burning away again in a seemingly endless loop, but this was different. He body was steadily repairing itself, albeit rather slowly.

He started to feel the ground below him. Okay, so he was lying on his back. It didn't feel like he was lying on grass, but rather dirt. Or maybe sand? The air smelled dusty. Was he in a battle when he was taken out? Is it still going on around him? No. It was silent around him, save for the occasional breeze. He couldn't hear any leaves rustling, so he must be somewhere open.

He couldn't sense any magical presences around him, so he was most likely alone. What was he doing before he blacked out? Was he with the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins? Probably. Didn't the Holy War start? Yes, it did. He spent 1,000 years in Purgatory trying to get his best friend back. He planned to give up his immortality so Elaine's lifeline wouldn't be connected to Melascula anymore. She would truly be brought back. He never had time to do it.

The Demon King. He showed up, right? He possessed the captain, but the Seven Deadly Sins managed to defeat him. The captain destroyed his curse of eternal life and the princess's curse of eternal reincarnation. It was all over. Everything was finally okay.

_So why am I lying here? Why do I feel like something's wrong? What happened-_

Oh. _Oh._

The Demon King came back. He was stronger. He was prepared. They were losing. They had no other choice-

The steaming finally stopped and the pain subsided completely, but he continued to lie there. _I can't open my eyes. I _can't _see what's left. I won't. _

But he did.

It was high noon, that was the first thing he saw. The blinding light reminded him of Escanor's "The One" form that he took to fight the Demon King, but if it was high noon again, then he must have been out for at least a whole day.

The air was slightly clouded, but it was clearing up. He saw nothing in his peripheral― no trees, no rocks, no people― and his heart dropped. _I have to sit up. I have to make sure-_

He knew he was holding onto false hope, but he couldn't help it. He couldn't _accept _it. Most of his miserable childhood he was kicked around, starved, beaten, told he didn't deserve to exist. Then, for seven days, he forgot it all. He fell in _love_. He found someone who understood him, who listened to him, who actually _cared. _

And he lost her.

Her death left a gaping hole in his heart that only grew larger with every day he spent without her, knowing they could never see each other again because he could never die.

Then he met the Seven Deadly Sins.

They were all broken in some way, and they were all outsiders, just like him. For once, he felt like he belonged somewhere. Even after they were all separated for ten years, they came back stronger than before and served the purpose for which they were created: defeating the Ten Commandments. Along the way, he got Elaine back. He spent 500 gruesome years alone in Purgatory, and the remaining 500 years fighting alongside his best friend. After defeating the Demon King, for the first time in his life, he felt complete. Him and Elaine had their own house, and he worked at The Boar Hat alongside the rest of the sins. Alongside his friends. His _family_.

That's why he couldn't bring himself to sit up.

He didn't want to face the fact that he lost _everything._

Against his will, against his heart, against every fiber in his being, he sat up.

The first thing he saw was the edge of the crater, about a mile or two from where he sat in the center. The blast had obliterated all life forms as far as the eye could see, and everything else had been turned to dust. The previously lively and flourishing terrain was now a dull wasteland. He glanced down.

His heart stopped.

Six piles of ashes lay before his feet, all of various sizes. He knew who they were, could identify each pile by where he remembered them standing when the blast disintegrated them all, but he refused to believe it. A lump began to form in his throat, but he pushed it down.

He braced his hand on the ground next to him and stumbled to his feet. _Liones. I have to get back to Liones. I have to get back to Ela-_

He turned around and stopped in his tracks. He was facing the direction of Liones, where the castle was once visible from a distance.

It wasn't there.

He spun in circles, looking in every direction, trying to find _something_.

No. _No._

Merlin had said there was a chance it might happen, so she took precautions just in case. They tried to contain the blast.

They failed.

Liones, Camelot, the Fairy Forest, the Boar Hat, Hawk, Gowther, Merlin, Escanor, Diane, King, Elizabeth, Meliodas. _Elaine_.

All of it. All of _them_.

_Gone._

He dropped to his knees. He stopped pretending there was still hope. He stopped denying the truth. He stopped suppressing the cry in the back of his throat.

He didn't even get to say goodbye.

**A/N: Okay so as far as the timeline goes I've just tweaked a few things (besides murdering like every main character but shh it's okay):**  
**1\. Ban never got the chance to give up his immortality for Elaine's life (and Elaine didn't get severely injured fighting the demons and she didn't die before he officially brought her back and stuff). I guess without the whole "oh my god you're about to die let me give up my immortality real quick" and everybody celebrating the end of the Holy War, even though Ban still planned to, he never actually had time to give up his immortality for her.**  
**2\. Elizabeth's curse never reformed again, and that whole grace period between the Demon King's first defeat and his return was a lot shorter**  
**3\. Escanor died with everyone else here, and we're just gonna pretend his death in the manga never happened**  
**Let me know what you thought by leaving me a comment :P**


	2. The Man in the Coffee Shop

_She sat on her knees with her hands folded neatly in her lap. She was facing a small pond, its pink, ethereal water rippling in the slight breeze. At the center of the pool was a golden chalice sitting directly underneath a steady stream of water, which filled the cup to the brim, causing it to spill into the rest of the pond. It was a lovely sight, and anyone else would have stared in awe. _

_Elaine, however, watched the water with unseeing eyes. The beauty of the fountain and the Sacred Tree didn't faze her anymore. It's hard to appreciate it when it had been almost like her prison for the past 700 years. Every day she sat in solitude, with absolutely nothing to do and nobody to talk to. Occasionally, a group of humans made their way into the forest, and she always went to see them. She didn't know what she expected to find_― _all of them were the same and tried to deceive and kill her ― but it gave her something to at least mark her day by. _

_She stood up and floated over to the fountain, moving her hand under the stream so she could feel the cool water between her fingers. She sighed._

"_A lick will add ten years to your life."_

_She whipped her head around so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. _Was that-

"_A swallow will add a hundred."_

A human? Scaling the tree? _Nobody has ever even made it a mile into the forest before, let _

_alone far enough to actually see the fountain_.

"Drink it all, and you'll live forever!"

_A bag was tossed up and onto the grass, followed by two arms hoisting a very tall man over the ledge. Just before she got a good look at his face-_

Elaine shot straight up in bed and nearly head butted her brother. He let out a feminine screech and backed off quickly.

"Harlequin?" Elaine rubbed her eyes tiredly. "What are you doing?"

He sighed exasperatedly. "You're alarm has been going off for twenty minutes. It woke me up, and I haven't been able to get back to sleep because of it."

She glanced at the clock on the bedside table. In bright red letters, it read _8:21 AM_. _Crap._ They were leaving at nine, and she still needed to get ready and finish packing.

Today, her and her brother were going back to college. She wasn't excited for adjusting to the workload again, but she was looking forward to seeing all of her friends again and getting to catch up with them.

Harlequin sighed and trudged out of the room, mumbling something about going back to bed.

"Wait! Don't go back to sleep! We're going to be leaving soon!" Elaine shouted after him.

"Wake me up then." She faintly heard him say before his door shut.

Elaine rolled her eyes at her brother's antics before flopping back down onto her covers and staring at the ceiling. She let her mind wander to the dream she was having just a few minutes prior.

She's been having the same one ever since she was little, but lately it had been coming more and more frequently. She always saw the same tranquil fountain, and for some reason she always felt so hopeless. She's never known why; nothing ever happens in her dreams besides her watching the water or roaming the area.

But this one was different.

Somebody else was there.

Elaine didn't get a good look at him before Harlequin woke her up, but she remembers hearing him sing. Whatever song he was singing was giving her some serious deja vu, even though she's almost positive she's never heard it before in her life. She had half a mind to fall back asleep and hope the dream would continue, but she knew she was already running late.

She reached up and rubbed her eyes again. It doesn't matter anymore. It's just a dream. For now, she's got some packing to do.

* * *

Elaine couldn't contain her excitement as she made her way through the crowds of students and parents carrying moving boxes to different apartments. She heard her brother get stuck behind some people off to her left, but she pressed forward until she reached the end of a long and less crowded hallway. She turned around and saw Harlequin finally free himself from the bustle.

"Ugh, I hate move-in day." he muttered.

"Come on! Aren't you excited to see everyone?" Elaine lowered her voice. "See Diane?"

Her brother flushed, but he did appear to be at least a little excited.

Elaine led the way down the hall, and when she was within a few feet of her open apartment door, Diane walked out. Elaine grinned from ear to ear as her roommate beamed and greeted her with an enormous hug.

"Elaine! It's so good to see you!" Diane pulled away from the embrace and turned to Harlequin. "You too, King!" She pulled him into a hug as well, and his face turned a deep crimson almost immediately. Elaine giggled at her brother as he practically drowned in her roommate's chest.

Elaine's other roommate, Elizabeth, and her boyfriend, Meliodas, emerged from the apartment. While the girls exchanged their greetings, Meliodas sauntered over to Diane and King.

"Hey, King!" Meliodas smacked him on the back, sending him stumbling forward a couple feet. "You just missed our new roommate."

King spun around. "What? I thought they weren't gonna fill the extra room." He looked appalled.

Last year, King and Meliodas had a less-than-ideal roommate who made living in their apartment a bit of a nightmare. The guy didn't understand volume control, so studying was extremely difficult when he was home. He would also invite people over all the time to get drunk or high, and on more than one occasion King found somebody passed out in his bed. King was mightily relieved when they managed to kick him out for this next school year, and neither him nor the school were expecting a student to fill the space. King groaned loudly.

Meliodas smiled. "Calm down. He's actually a pretty cool guy."

"That's what you said about the last one, too, and look how that turned out." King grumbled.

"Come on, King." Diane placed a hand on his shoulder, and his face flushed again. "Not everybody is like that asshole from last year. You might actually get along with him."

King huffed. "Yeah. Sure."

* * *

The door chimed as Elaine walked into her favorite coffee shop on campus. She breathed in the sweet smells of the coffee brewing and smiled. A lot of students like to come here and work on homework, so the shop is usually comfortable and quiet, save for a few small conversations on the side. Elaine would always come here after her morning classes to work while she sipped a cappuccino. When she first discovered the shop, she quickly became addicted to their coffee, especially the cappuccinos, and she couldn't wait to try one again.

She walked up to the register, ordered her coffee, and then wandered over to the small display of coffee cups for sale near the counter. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed someone looking in her direction. She didn't want to assume they were looking at her specifically, but many seconds passed and they still appeared to be looking. She discreetly peered over at the stranger, but he wasn't looking at her anymore. Instead, he was silently drinking his coffee and looking at his phone.

That didn't stop her heart from skipping a beat.

He was handsome. No. He was _hot._

Even though he was sitting, she could tell he was extremely tall. Not the kind of tall that's barely pushing six feet; this guy looked like he was nearing _seven feet_. As her gaze traveled to his face, she paused on his arms. _Damn._ _You don't see that everyday. _This guy had some _muscles. _She looked up at the long scar traveling from below the collar of his shirt to just above his jawline. She was intrigued by it, but her eyes continued to his spiky pale blue hair. A single strand hung down over his eyes, which she could now see were a brilliant ruby red.

Said brilliant ruby red eyes were also staring directly at her.

He smirked.

Her face flushed immediately when she realized she'd been openly gawking at this guy for who knows how long. He appeared to be thoroughly amused, and she could feel her face growing more and more red. She didn't know how long they maintained eye contact before he set his phone on the table and turned to face her completely. She was immediately struck with a strong sense of familiarity. She's seen this guy before. _But where?_ She racked her brain, but she couldn't come up with anything. If she was being honest, she's never seen anyone even remotely like this man. _So why does he look so damn familiar? Who is he-_

"Elaine!" The barista called, snapping Elaine out of whatever kind of trance she was in. The barista was holding her cappuccino and looking around for her. She hurried over to grab her coffee before turning back in his direction.

He was gone.

**A/N: Hmm... why is this man so familiar? So weird.**  
**So this chapter takes place about 1000 years after the Prologue, so we're in modern times now. I plan to have some flashbacks in the future, and those parts will all be written in italics.**  
**Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think so far by leaving me a review :)**


	3. The Weight on His Shoulders

_How long had he been walking? He couldn't remember anymore. It must have been days. Weeks? He never bothered to stop. He never bothered to sleep. He couldn't eat or drink something even if he wanted to; there was nothing in sight. _

_Nothing but dust._

_It was a constant reminder of everything he lost. _

_It was easy to tell when he was passing by a town. There were many large dust piles― about ten feet tall ― that the wind hadn't blown away yet. They were arranged in neat rows, and most of them had smaller piles of dust directly in front of them. He knew those were the townspeople. _

_Ban felt numb as he trudged through yet another town. He kept his eyes forward so he wouldn't see more of the casualties of the Sins' devastating attack. His mind still couldn't comprehend that this was his reality now. He'd suffered loss and he'd suffered trauma before, but _nothing _could compare to this. On top of losing everything he'd ever known, he now felt responsible for millions of deaths across Britannia. He felt the weight of that with every step he took._

_He didn't know where he was going. He didn't know why he was walking. There was nowhere for him to go anymore. Some part of him still hoped he was wrong, and that not all of Britannia was gone. Maybe the blast only took out a few dozen miles? Was that why he was walking? Because he hoped to find something? Find someone?_

_It took a couple more days for the pebbles to start to appear. It was subtle. He almost missed them. He bent down to examine one. It was pretty intact._

_If he was finding rocks that hadn't been destroyed, then did that mean he was starting to reach the edge of the blast zone? Was he nearing parts of Britannia that survived?_

_He began to feel hopeful, truly hopeful, for the first time in weeks. His pace quickened as he continued to follow the stones. Somewhere in the distance, he saw a large shadow, surrounded by many smaller shadows. He couldn't make out what it was yet, but he all but ran towards it anyway. He kept running as he passed by clumps of twigs, which eventually turned into small, charred tree stumps. He kept running as he entered a black forest, the sight eerily familiar._

_Any hope he had turned to despair when he saw the Sacred Tree._

_It was young and nowhere near its size twenty years ago, but it still towered over the rest of the forest easily. Along with everything else around him, the tree was charred and frail. Whatever immense magical power that used to emanate from it was now gone. _

_Ban had seen this sight before. Last time he wasn't as concerned about the tree as he was the fairy dying in his arms. Her dying wish was for him to plant the Sacred Tree's seed and create the Fairy Forest again. He did as she asked, and he came here periodically to provide the tree with the Fountain of Youth in his veins. This was where he would visit Elaine's body, and every time he would promise her he would find a way to revive her. For nearly twenty years, this tree had felt like a home, not because he was labeled the new Fairy King, but because this was where she was. _

_Now he stood before the very tree he planted and nourished for two decades and felt like history was repeating itself._

_Elaine was gone. The Sacred Tree was gone. The Fairy Forest was gone._

_The last time he went through this, that was all he could lose. This time, he lost so much more. It was hell trying to continue on after losing Elaine the first time, but at least he had somewhere to go. He used his arrest and subsequent executions as a distraction from the pain, but whenever he was left alone in his cell, all of it came rushing back. Joining the Seven Deadly Sins was the most effective distraction for him, but it only lasted a few years until they were framed and forced to split up._

_So what was he supposed to do _now_? After he lost _everything_? _Everyone_?Just standing still for the first time in weeks was enough to crack some of his emotional barriers. The numbness was fading, replaced by a sharp stab of pain in his abdomen. Ban had probably experienced more physical pain in his lifetime than any other human and the majority of the other races, and he'd had his fair share of emotional trauma before._

_That one stab was enough to bring him to his knees, and he couldn't stop his body from shaking. He braced his hands on the ground in front of him and tried to breathe. He couldn't. Everything around him was blurry. He felt like he was going to pass out._

_He tried to move. He tried to get up just to do _something_, anything to distract himself from one of the worst pains in his life._

_He managed to lift his head and glance to his right. A collection of large rocks and boulders sat less than twenty feet away from him. He's surprised he didn't notice them before; one of the boulders was dozens of feet tall._

_He staggered to his feet and made his way towards them. The pain began to lessen as he occupied himself with studying the rocks._

_There were six of them, all of various sizes. The first one he approached was about five feet tall, and the next three were just under a foot taller than the first. One was a few feet taller than Ban himself, and the last one towered over them all at about thirty feet. None of them seemed to have even been scratched by the blast._

_It took him a moment to realize it, but when he did, he turned around and looked at the Sacred Tree again._

_The only thing capable of burning the Fairy Forest was the flames of Purgatory. Whatever power the captain had contributed to their final attack must have been what set the forest ablaze._

_But flames need time to burn. _

_The tree most likely had a small amount of time to use whatever magic it had left before it completely burned up. It could have made a last ditch effort to stop the flames. It could have tried to revive some of the forest or even save itself. Instead, it formed these rocks._

_But why? Why would it waste its time making these? He was aware of what they represented, but he still didn't understand why the Sacred Tree would do this._

_Ban knew what he had to do, and even though it would probably take him months, even years, he needed to do it. He needed the distraction._

_And he wanted to do it. For his friends._

_He approached the smallest of the rocks and heaved it onto his back. His steps were smaller and slower, but he walked._

_Right back in the direction he came._

* * *

Elaine was within sight of her apartment building when the raindrops started to fall. She put her hand over her coffee cup and picked up her pace a bit. She all but ran when the rain started to pour. Luckily, she managed to dart inside the lobby before she was completely soaked.

She had planned to hurry to and from the coffee shop so she'd be back long before the downpour, but she had gotten distracted and completely forgot about the coming bad weather. She would never admit said distraction was a surprisingly familiar and attractive man, but she knew that was the truth.

It was out of character for her to be so taken by someone at first sight. She could recognize and appreciate if somebody was attractive, but she had never really been boy crazy. She had always felt like she had been off the market, but she always chalked it up to her brother being so overprotective. Now that she thinks about it, she's never really been _interested _in anyone. Never. Not even a crush.

So what the heck happened back at the coffee shop?

She shook her head as she unlocked her apartment door. A part of her wanted to see him again, but another part didn't, solely because he was somehow different from the others, which made her nervous. For the time being, she would listen to the antisocial part of her brain. He was just some guy. That's it. She opened the door and walked inside.

They had a pretty nice apartment compared to what other colleges offered. To the left of the door was the living room. They had the television set up on the opposite wall from the door, and they had a couch and a couple of cushy chairs arranged around a coffee table. The wall to the far left had two doors: the bathroom and Diane's room. To the right of the door was their kitchen and dining area. The dining room consisted of a small wooden table set up near the door, and the kitchen was in the far corner, with marble counters and a breakfast bar. Splitting the kitchen and dining area was a hallway, which led to Elizabeth and Elaine's rooms.

Elaine hung up her damp jacket on the coat hook next to the door. She set her purse and coffee cup on the kitchen island before checking Diane and Elizabeth's rooms. As she expected, neither were there. Before she left they were talking about going to hang out at Meliodas and Harlequin's apartment after unpacking a little. Elaine decided she would unpack as well until she finished her coffee, and then she would go join her friends.

Her brother's apartment was a bit different from her own. The living room was right in front of the door, with a large entryway on the back wall leading to the kitchen and dining area. Two hallways were positioned on either side of the kitchen entryway, the left leading to Harlequin's room and the bathroom, the right leading to Meliodas and their new roommate's rooms.

Her brother was talking to Diane on the couch when Elizabeth let her in, and she could hear voices coming from the kitchen. One most definitely belonged to Meliodas, and the other sounded… familiar. But still unfamiliar. She honest to god couldn't figure out what was going on with her today. It was probably just their new roommate.

"Elaine, I was about to call you. I didn't know if you were still out there in the rain. It looks like it's starting to get pretty bad out there." Elizabeth said as she closed the door behind Elaine.

"I'm fine, Elizabeth. I managed to get back right before it even started." Elaine reassured her friend. "I was just doing some unpacking before I came here."

Elizabeth opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by a loud crash from the kitchen. Both girls turned to look in the direction of the noise.

"Don't worry, Ban is just trying to teach Meliodas how to cook a decent meal." Diane explained.

_Ban…_

_Bandit Ban._

Elaine didn't know where the words came from, but suddenly they were at the forefront of her mind. _What in the-_

Her thoughts were interrupted by Meliodas emerging from the kitchen with his hands behind his head and a large grin plastered on his face.

"Oh well! Guess I can't be taught. Looks like you're our new designated cook, Ban!"

She heard a sigh and a chuckle come from the kitchen that for some reason gave her goosebumps. "Aye, aye, Captain."

The owner of the voice decided to exit the kitchen as well. As he ducked under the doorframe, her heart rate picked up.

Tall. Pale blue hair. Red eyes.

He smirked when he saw her.

_Oh God._

**A/N: What do you think Ban's doing with the rocks? Let me know your thoughts by reviewing the story ;)**


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